So yesterday I determined that there were a few shots that I wanted to capture today, and had them scheduled in. The weather, however, had other ideas, and most of the day was rainy, not at all conditions for what I had planned (which, successful or not, I’ll reveal eventually – just not in this post.) Thus I resigned myself to skipping photography for the day and working on other tasks instead, of which there are still plenty.

But in the afternoon I went out to check the mail and found someone right smack in our front yard, and hurried back inside immediately. This is not as ominous (or as wimpy) as it sounds, because the someone was a red-shouldered hawk (Buteo lineatus,) and I went inside to get the camera and The Girlfriend. Coming back out, I eased the lens into view and was just focusing when the hawk decided not to hang around and flew off, showing that my suspicions of it having prey on the lawn were unfounded. Luckily though, it only flew to the light pole at the end of the driveway, where we discovered that another waited.

We’ve been hearing one marking territory in the immediate area quite often, and have spotted it in the trees in the yard a few times, but never in the clear enough for photos, so I was pleased to have them both out in the open like this, albeit in lousy light. The one from the yard is on the right, and is likely female judging from being larger than the other – it’s a little early for mating season, but who knows?

It was still raining lightly, which might have helped, because I was able to creep a bit closer for better framing without them flying off.

I made it to roughly 20 meters off, enough to get a few shots, and left it at that so I wouldn’t spook them off. I honestly don’t know how much or how quickly birds can condition to human presence, but I thought it was better for me to walk away quietly rather than have them fly off when they felt I was too close. Maybe we’ll have a nest nearby, come spring.

The male didn’t appear the slightest interested in what I was doing, only glancing at my progress occasionally. There were plenty of grey squirrels active in the yard and it’s likely that’s what they were after; I did examine the yard where the female had been standing and found no evidence of remains, but if they want to raise some young here, the yard and the pond will provide plenty of food.

Later in the evening, going out to check the mail again (the light pole was almost directly over the mailbox and so I had skipped it earlier to avoid disturbing the hawks,) I noticed something on one of the balancing birds, and so got the camera back out.

The past couple of nights have been far too chilly for the Carolina anoles (Anolis carolinensis) to be sleeping in the open, and it was still raining lightly anyway, but the temperature was actually warmer than it had been during the day, and so this guy was game.

The anole had one eye opened sleepily watching what was going on, which is fairly typical, but otherwise remained undisturbed. It’s entirely possible that this is the one that had been sleeping inside the sculpture, which we saw again one of these mornings, yesterday or today. However, upon unloading the memory card, I noticed that I could never see further down the tail than this, and wasn’t sure if it was simply because the wings of the sculpture cut off the flash light, or if the tail was partially missing. So I went back out a little later to check.

Yep, this one lost part of its tail in some altercation, which is fairly frequent. We’ll have to see if it grows back forked.

But I want you to notice the different in lighting between the anole pics. The latest one immediately above is less contrasty than the others, and also a little bit yellower – this is because I was using the macro softbox for this shot of the missing tail, but direct flash with the others. Direct flash makes the raindrops show up better, but the heightened contrast and deeper shadows sometimes eliminates details in macro subjects, which is why I have the softbox.

There was something else that I brought the camera out for, though.

There is a line of Leyland cypress (Cupressocyparis leylandii) trees along the driveway, and each night some variety of bird chooses them to roost within in fairly noticeable numbers – I spot them with the headlamp from time to time when I’m out snooping around, but the nature of the foliage and the habits of the birds means that I rarely get more than a glimpse of a pale belly. Tonight was a little different, and I could work some angles that showed a little more identifying coloration. Just, not enough; I’ve been through my Sibley Guide multiple times and can’t pin it down, though my suspicion that they’re warblers remains. It does not help that warblers get very vague coloration during the fall and winter months.

Naturally, they were always overhead – not by much, but enough to prevent any views of the backs or wings that might assist in pinning it down. I believe I’ve seen them during the day, but they’re just as buried in the foliage and not holding still in the slightest, so the view is much worse.

These four were all roosting together in less than a half-meter cluster, and attracted my attention by having a brief, quiet discussion for a moment, but even then it was simply twitters and not any kind of song, so no help there. This was my typical view, too, up until tonight at least. If you have any ideas on the species, pass them along.

I figured, while out with the camera and flash, I’d try to find one of the anoles that insists on living in the greenhouse, and so popped in to check. Sure enough, one was found tucked into the pineapple plant.

I’d spotted one here before, since the shape and density of the leaves down near the base make for good sleeping nooks, but it took me several tries to get the flash angle right to show it, while trying not to lean in too close and get stabbed by the sharp ends of those leaves. But again upon unloading, I found a detail that I likely wouldn’t have noticed at all.

Sorry about the overexposure – it’s hard to judge. But man, what happened to those rear toes? They should be long and slender, with the middle toe extending quite far out, so something caused them to be almost missing, and I have no idea what. Though now I’m less motivated to chase this one, at least, out of the greenhouse, because it’s better sheltered in there – as long as it’s finding enough food. I’ve seen them slipping under the edges of the bottom frames, and when the temperature gets high enough I open the door and ceiling vents anyway, so they can always make their own choice.

But I noticed that a different angle would give a peek at the forebody, so I went for that angle too.

Not much more than a peek, really – you can see the paler markings that run along the spine, and down at the bottom is the edge of the eye, with that hint of blue eyeshadow. That was the best that I was gonna get.

While there, I did a couple of updates, because it’s still a little hard for me to believe.

Those are new blossoms on the Key lime (Citrus × aurantiifolia) trees – which still have limes on them. We’ve harvested one batch and made a fabulous pie, but have enough for something else too, so we’ve been letting them sit until we decide (and Thanksgiving is coming up anyway.) Just last night I dug out the pollinating paintbrushes, because nothing’s going to do it in the greenhouse but me, and not a moment too soon it appears. And the lemon trees were getting their start too.

These are perhaps even more ahead of the game, because both trees are laden with lemons that aren’t ripe yet – huge ones too, so we’re gathering lemon recipes as well.

We’re definitely glad we sprung for the greenhouse, and in fact, this is a new one that’s over twice the size of the previous (which isn’t saying a lot: 2.5 x 4 meters rather than 2×2,) even though most of the plants that we’d had in there last year were waiting for the opportunity to plant them in the new place, which has now occurred – we have the citrus trees, trumpet flowers, and a potted Japanese maple in there right now, so it’s not overcrowded. Despite the delight of the anoles with it.

So, not bad for a day that I figured I’d forego the photography.